Justin Trudeau meets SRK, Farhan Akhtar

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spent an evening with Bollywood personalities like Shah Rukh Khan, Anupam Kher and Farhan Akhtar discussing stronger ties between the Hindi and the Canadian film industries.

Trudeau met the Bollywood celebrities on Tuesday night here. He even shared a photograph with Shah Rukh and tweeted: "Tonight, we celebrated stronger ties and new co-production opportunities between Bollywood and the Canadian film industry. And who better to help than Shah Rukh Khan himself. Great to meet you!"

Anupam, who met Trudeau and his family, said it was a pleasure meeting the Canadian Prime Minister.

"What a charming and great conversationalist he is. Talked about people, culture and, of course, cinema," Anupam added.

Farhan tweeted: "Was an honour and a pleasure to meet the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and his lovely wife, Sophie. Sir, your leadership in the discourse for ending gender discrimination serves as constant inspiration to us all."

Trudeau arrived here on Saturday on an eight-day visit at the invitation of his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi.

The visit is aimed at further strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries in key areas of mutual interest such as trade and investment, energy, science and innovation, higher education, infrastructure development, skill development and space.

Cooperation in security and counter-terrorism as well as exchange of views on global and regional issues of mutual interest will also form important components of the visit.

Modi will hold bilateral talks with Trudeau on Friday following which a number of agreements are expected to be signed.

The trip comes nearly three years after Modi visited Canada in April 2015. The last visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to India was in November 2012.

--IANS

dc/nn/sac